tankmates for Pictus catfish

This is a discussion on tankmates for Pictus catfish within the FreshWater Beginner Information/Questions forums, part of the FreshWater Topics category;I have one Pictus and one Raphael catfish in 40g. aquarium. I am going to add there one more Pictus ...

tankmates for Pictus catfish

I have one Pictus and one Raphael catfish in 40g. aquarium. I am going to add there one more Pictus and other fish. The problem is what kind of fish is better to add. I like Gouramis a lot, but I have read that they need lots of plants (differently from Pictus who likes the open space) and they do not like active tankmates (Pictus are qiuet active).

If I had a choice I think I'd pick some kind of schooling fish that hangs out towards the top of the tank like a hatchetfish or guppies, since I think both the pictus and the raphael get pretty big and will eat any slower moving fish that will fit in their mouth when they get older. You could probably get a gourami in there, they dont NEED plants...but just like most fish (even the ones you already have) they appreciate places in the tank to go to get away from their tankmates.

Baby guppies will get eaten in most tanks... they shouldn't be a problem with a few pictus cats . When the pictus get bigger they'll probably eat the adults too... guppies aren't exactly speedy enough to get away from most predators.

I'd say a gourami is fine... just don't get a dwarf gourami, they tend to be more passive. A normal size gourami will most likely think that the tank is its own, I've never seen that they get bothered by larger/faster fish. They also tend to stick to the front of the tank, so I don't think it'd bother it too much if you don't have much in the way of decorations.

Depends what other fish. They don't "fight" for food, but they certainly eat their share (and then some...). Mine is fine with tetras and cherry barbs and such... but I suspect small tetras would become pictus snacks eventually. I'd bet tiger barbs are safe with pictus cats and/or a gourami.

My pictus is living happily in fairly planted tank, because of this he does not have an access to some parts of it which is prob good. Instead he hangs out in his own passage under driftwood where nobody dares to swim because he can butt into them.
He lives with all fish listed under 29g tank in my sig plus 2 adult mollies. No problem with him: he does not harrass any fish, his only rivals are 2 cories whom he can kick sometimes w/o any harm though. He is about 4".

Good thing about pictuses is that nobody cares about them, they live out their own agendas and leave others alone. I meant in communities, if you put them with cichlids, i would say "caput pictus".

Gouramis are fine with the pictus. Just think twice before getting those and get them like triple healthy no less, otherwise they will bring their noumerous health problems and eventually die.

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